⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everybody!
When: Day 64
Where: The Camping Grounds
What: While the Ringmaster attempts to purge the carnival of magical tracing spells and deal with the angry fire fae in her belly, everyone else is getting sent on an emergency camping trip with some unusual local fauna.
Warnings: Camping.

CRYPTIC CAMPGROUNDS↴ You're given about three hours to prepare, after the Ringmaster tells you her plans for the coming week. There is a vast selection of camping equipment at your disposal, and the means to take along enough food for the length of the stay. The wilderness of the planet you're left on is nearly idyllic, but some people just don't like the great outdoors. ► CRYPTOZOOLOGY: As it turns out, the carnival won't be alone here. There is a varied ecosystem of cryptids to be found as well, living in relative peace and mostly reacting to the newcomers with curiousity. More details can be found on the plotting post. You are free to NPC the cryptids as much as you need to, as long as you stick to the behaviours described. ► DREAMSHARING: There is a player plot going on which will allow characters to share dreams! These are specifically more dreams than nightmares, and the mushi-adept characters will be here to help. ► CHILLAX: There isn't any plot twist for this setting, so this is mostly an opportunity to decompress from the last plot and get ready for the future. The Ringmaster will show up occasionally to help with needed medical treatments and check on things, but won't stick around for long.

Comments

[whattaprick]

“Strange,” Lambert sighs, finally, “Don’t make me carry your fat ass.”

Because, as is perfectly evident to everyone around them, the Nightrider is finding this a challenge. A consciously helpful, coordinated man he could manage, but right now it’s like wrestling with an oil covered seal.

[starseedling]

Steven smiles even more brightly in response to Yuya and Strange, gentle feelings of relief and wellbeing radiating from him empathically. He doesn't even notice. What he does notice, however, is Lambert struggling with holding Strange up.

"I can carry him, Lambert," he says, before glancing over to Yuya as well. Steven is small, but he has his ways.

[whattaprick]

Lambert squints at Steven, baffled at the assertion. "You? But you come up to his knee."

Like, he's not exactly doubting his ability, he's just sort of skeptical of the physics of it. And Steven may not literally come up to his knee, but close enough! That being said, shifting his weight a bit makes him go pale as a sheet, so there isn't any choice -- he's shouldering off Strange's weight and pushing him at Steven and Yuya with a grimace.

"Fine, take him." Catch, kiddos.

[kingsroads]

And Strange doesn't even try to steady himself or not move or cling onto Lambert as he's shoved. Nope, he's falling towards the small children, this is his life now, please catch him, Steven.

[hippocarnival]

"Hey--" Oh, Yuya is not expecting to suddenly receive almost all of Strange's weight. He throws his arm up and makes a valiant attempt to brace against his right, but he's already teetering towards Steven before he can catch his balance.

[starseedling]

As it turns out, Steven is mostly ready, and can also pretty trivially shoulder all of Strange's weight. The only challenge is his relative lack of size, and trying to keep Strange from just noodling over top of him - he puts his hands on either side of Strange's chest, trying to figure out how to deal with this.

Ultimately, he gets one hand behind Strange's back, and then tries to swoop the other one under his knees. This would work for anyone who wasn't incredibly short, but for Steven, it leaves Strange not far from touching the ground with his butt.

"Uh..." Dealing with the weight is trivial, but the balance is less so. Steven frowns and then considers another idea. "Let me try something... it might be kinda weird."

Steven then uses his magic to bubble Strange entirely, suspending him inside a large pink orb and hovering over Steven's head, braced with his hands. Strange will mostly find himself floating in the middle of the bubble rather than touching the outsides, so he better keep his limbs tucked in.

"There! Don't break it, okay?"

[kingsroads]

Okay! He's in an orb now! This is his life!

To Strange's credit, he doesn't break it. Mostly because he knows that he's pretty much just covered via a sheet at the moment and reaching out to touch the bubble means that there's a high chance that someone would get a glimpse of dick or ass. But he is interested in the composition of the orb. While he's too sleepy to talk or do much, he's awake enough that he can just metaphorically flip on his third eye powers and stare at the pink orb for a moment or two.

This means that not only is Strange's hair still on fire, but now his forehead, hand, and forearm are also on fire.

[whattaprick]

Losing Strange’s weight makes it easier for Lambert to remain upright, which he does, still swaying slightly. No longer having to wrestle with a dead weight magician also means he can notice other things, like—

“Oh, for — is he even more on fire?”